IFRS and XBRL: How to improve Business Reporting through Technology and Object Tracking

CHAPTER TWO

The need for increased acceptance of XBRL

AS WITH OBSTACLES FOR FURTHER USE OF IFRS, similar problems face the hoped-for pace of XBRL implementation and usage. For instance, as identified in the AICPA publication IFRS Compass: IT ­Systems Implications, there is a need for organisations to:

• address the effects of convergence on calculations and reporting;
• identify the new data that must be collected;
• create, modify and adapt IT systems to complete a successful implementation.

Also, in mid-2011, Roger Tabor, chair of IFAC's Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee, said: ‘Many organisations have not yet realised how useful XBRL can be for them; professional accountants in business can assist them in navigating and making the most of XBRL.' This places onus upon professionals who, to date, might not have had the capacity to be effective advisors on matters that are just beyond their usual range of experience.

In relation to international issues, such as the varying take-up rate of IFRS, as well as XBRL, consider the appropriate level of government interest, governance and law that is necessary as a prerequisite for exploring, as well as embracing, a new way of doing things in finance and accounting. In this regard, see World Justice Project Rule of Law Index 2011, at worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index.

On the subject of accepting and implementing IFRS and XBRL, as an associated aside, there must be appropriate translations available, although it ...